Futurama
Futurama is an Emmy Award-winning animated American sitcom created by Matt Groening, who also created The Simpsons, and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox network. The series follows the adventures of a former New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J. Fry, after he is accidentally cryonically frozen at midnight, January 1st, 2000, and is revived one thousand years in the future. 'Overview' In the United States, the series aired from March 28, 1999 to August 10, 2003 on FOX, although its timeslot was regularly interrupted and pre-empted by sports events, and eventually went out of production. However, Comedy Central has entered into an agreement with 20th Century Fox Television to syndicate the existing episodes and air the new movies as new episodes in an episodic format as of February 2008. At Comic-Con 2007 it was announced that Futurama will return on November 27th as a full-length DVD release called Futurama: Bender's Big Score, which will be followed by three additional films: The Beast with a Billion Backs, Bender's Game, and The Wild Green Yonder. After their release, each film will be divided into four episodes and air on Comedy Central. The name "Futurama" comes from a pavilion at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Designed by Norman Bel Geddes, the Futurama pavilion depicted what he imagined the world to look like in 1959 'Cast and Characters' Phillip J. Fry'' ('''Billy West) '''Fry is a dim-witted, immature, slovenly, yet good-hearted pizza delivery boy who falls into a cryogenic pod, causing it to activate and freeze him just after midnight on January 1, 2000. He re-awakens on New Year's Eve, 2999, and gets a job as a cargo delivery boy at Planet Express, a company owned by his only living relative, Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth. Fry's love for Leela is a recurring theme throughout the series. '''Turanga Leela (Katey Sagal) '''Leela is the competent, one eyed captain of the Planet Express. Abandoned as a baby, she grew up in the Cookieville Minimum Security Orphanarium believing herself to be an Alien from another planet, but learns that she is actually a Mutant from the sewers in the episode "Leelas Homeworld" Prior to becoming the ship's captain, Leela worked as a career assignment officer at the cryogenics lab where she first met Fry. She is Fry's primary love interest. '''Bender Bending Rodriguez (John Dimaggio) '''Bender is a Foul Mouthed, Heavy Drinking, cigar-smoking, Kleptomaniacol, misanthropic, egocentric, ill-tempered Robot manufactured by Moms Friendly Robot Company. He was originally programmed to bend girders for Sucide Booths , and later is designated as assistant manager of sales. He is Fry's best friend and Roomate. He is also known to have deep desires to be a Folk Singer and a chef, despite his lack of a sense of taste. '''Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth (Billy West) '''Professor Hubert Farnsworth, also "The Professor," is Fry's distant nephew. Farnsworth founded Planet Express Inc. to fund his work as a Mad Scientist Although he is depicted as a brilliant scientist and inventor, at more than one-hundred and sixty years old he is extremely prone to age-related forgetfulness and fits of temper. In the episode "A Clone of My Own," the Professor clones himself to produce a successor, Cubert Farnsworth whom he treats like a son. '''Dr. John. A. Zoidberg (Billy West) '''Zoidberg is a Lobster -like alien from the planet Decapod 10http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decapod_10, and the neurotic staff Physican of Planet Express. Although he claims to be an expert on humans, his knowledge of human anatomy and physiology is woefully inaccurate. Zoidberg is homeless, penniless, and—despite being depicted as Professor Farnsworth's long-time friend—held in contempt by everyone on the crew, except Fry. '''Amy Wong (Lauren Tom) '''Amy is an incredibly rich, blunt, spoiled, ditzy, and accident-prone long-term Intern at Planet Express. She is an engineering student at Mars University and heiress to the western hemisphere of Mars. Though born on Mars, she is ethnically Chinese and is prone to cursing in Cantonese and using 31st-century Slang. Her parents are the wealthy ranchers Leo and Indez Wong. She is Promunocius in the beginning of the series and eventually enters a monogamous relationship with Kif Krokker . In the show's sixth season, she acquires her doctorate. '''Hermes Conrad (Phil Lamar) Hermes is the Jamaican accountant of Planet Express. A 36th-level Bureaucat (promoted to level 34 during the series) and proud of it, he is a stickler for regulation and enamored of the tedium of paperwork and bureaucracy. Hermes is also a former champion in Olympic Limbo, a sport derived from the Popular Park Activity He gave up limbo after the 2980 Olympics when a young fan, imitating him, broke his back and died. Hermes has a wife, Labarbara and a 12-year-old son, Dwight who is a Friend of Cubus Farnsworth. 'Setting' Futurama is set in New New York at the turn of the 31st century, in a time filled with technological wonders. The city of New New York has been built over the ruins of present-day New York City, referred to as "Old New York." Various devices and architecture are similar to the Populexe style. Global Warming, inflexible Beraucy, and Substance Abuse are a few of the subjects given a 31st-century Exaggeration in a world where the problems have become both more extreme and more common. Just as New York has become a more extreme version of itself in the future, other Earth locations are given the same treatment, like Los Angeles being depicted as a smog filled apocalyptic wasteland. Numerous technological advances have been made between the present day and the 31st century. The ability to keep heads Alive in Jars was invented by Ron Popeil (who has a guest cameo in "A Piece of Garbage"), which has resulted in many historical figures and current celebrities being present, including Groening himself; this became the writers' device to feature and poke fun at contemporary celebrities in the show. Curiously, several of the preserved heads shown are those of people who were already dead well before the advent of this technology; one of the most prominent examples of this anomaly is frequent Earth president Richard Nixon, who died in 1994. The Internet, while being fully immersive and encompassing all senses — even featuring its own digital world (similar to Tron or The Matrix) — is slow and largely consists of Pornography,Pop Up Ads , and "filthy" (or Filthy Filthy) Chat Rooms Some of it is edited to include educational material ostensibly for youth. Televison is still a primary form of entertainment. Self-aware robots are a common sight, and are the main cause of global warming thanks to their Alcolhol systems. The Wheel is obsolete (no one but Fry even seems to recognize the design), having been forgotten and replaced by Hoover Cars and a network of large, clear Pneumatic Transport Tubes. Environmentally, common animals still remain, alongside mutated, cross-bred (sometimes with humans) and extraterrestrial animals.Owls are often shown to have replaced rats as common household pests. Although rats still exist, sometimes Rats act like Pigeons. Pigeons still exist, as well. Pine Trees, Anchovies (Rare) and Poodles have been extinct for 800 years. Earth still suffers the effects of Greenhouse Gasses, although in one episode Leela states that its effects have been counteracted by Nuclear Winter . In another episode, the effects of global warming have been somewhat mitigated by the dropping of a giant ice cube into the ocean, and later by pushing Earth farther away from the sun. Futurama's setting is a backdrop, and the writers are not above committing Continuty Errors if they serve to further the gags. For example, while The Pilot Episode implies that the previous Planet Express crew was killed by a space wasp, the later episode "Sting" is based on the crew having been killed by space bees instead. The "world of tomorrow" setting is used to highlight and lampoon issues of today and to parody the science fiction genre. 'Episodes' (List of Futurama episodes and seasons) 'Trivia ' *